Today we checked out of our hotel in Limassol and hit the road on our way to Paphos! Our first stop was Aphrodite’s Rock. Legend has it that Aphrodite (the goddess of love and beauty) was born thanks to the union of the sky and the Earth, and Aphrodite’s Rock is where she emerged from the water. We learned that she was quickly brought to Greece to live with the Gods at Mount Olympus, but along the way she dropped pearls into the water that then emerged as the Greek islands. Because she was so beautiful, many suitors fought for her hand in marriage, but she was eventually married to Hephaestus, the God of Blacksmiths, to end the quarreling. A local myth today is that any person who swims around Aphrodite’s Rock will be blessed with eternity beauty or youth. Seeing the rock in-person was such a cool experience because I can now understand why the Ancient Greeks believed it to be the rising spot of the most beautiful goddess. The landscape is so majestic and the water is so clear that every shade of blue is easily visible!
We then traveled to the actual city of Paphos to see the Mosaics and explore the city! We learned that when Greek colonists settled in Paphos during the Mycenaean period, they first focused on building the harbor and then built the castle for their king. The legends behind each mosaic were so interesting, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the variety of colors and geometric figures. One of my favorites was the first mosaic we looked at called “Scylla,” which was from the Hellenistic Period. We learned that Scylla means female dog, and the legend was about a beautiful lady who had a dragon tale and five dog heads. This mosaic had simple colors with white tiles for the focal image and black tiles for the background.
The “Triumph of Dionysus” mosaic was from the Romanistic Period and included many black, white, red, and brown tiles with intricate border designs. The legend is that people were very curious where grapes came from and the god of wine discovered them in Mesoptamia. On his way back from Mesopotamia, he brought back hostages which are depicted as the dark figures with their hands tied behind their backs. Because the mosaic artist had trouble depicting the eyes of the prisoners, he used a darker tile for their bodies to differentiate them from the Europeans.
One of my final favorite mosaics was from the Christian period and was called “Geometric mosaic.” It was rumored to contain every geometric shape imaginable!
We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying free time in the city. We wandered through various gift shops and had lunch on the harbor. We saw pelicans and other birds and just enjoyed each other’s company and the nice weather. It has been awesome to get to explore so many different ancient cities throughout the course of this trip!
